RECTANGULAR PIETRA DURA TABLETOP. MARBLE AND HARDSTONES.

Rectangular table top in marble and hard stone. Inspired by Italian models from the 16th-17th centuries. Two axes of flowers flanked by vegetal scrolls facing each other and arranged geometrically are placed in the centre. This motif is framed by a white line that forms rhombuses on the shorter sides, together with another blue line. Towards the outside, another band leaves square spaces in the corners with simplified flowers and simple scrolls. A wide blue band and a narrower white band remain towards the outside. The technique known as “hard stonework” is similar to marquetry, but uses marbles of different colours and stones with a hardness greater than 6 on the Mohs scale instead of wood. It originated in Florence, with the attempt made by Piero de Medici and Lorenzo the Magnificent to revitalise an ancient Roman mosaic technique called “opus sectile”. It was so successful that workshops multiplied throughout Europe, including the Gobelins Factory in France, the Royal Workshop of Naples (which took over from the Medici workshop) and the one established in the Royal Site of El Buen Retiro in Madrid by Charles III, which had the support of quality local specialists but was closed by Napoleon in 1808 and destroyed in 1812. The objects produced (desks, tables, vases, plaques, etc.) initially showed a great decorative variety, but from around 1600 onwards, a clear predominance of naturalistic elements over geometric ones was noted: flowers, fruit, birds, pearls, butterflies, etc. The present example is heir to this tradition, as can be seen by comparing it with works such as the table in the Prado Museum in Madrid made by Francesco Ghinghi at the Real Laboratorio Delle Piedre Dure in Naples (catalogue number O00511), or the board from the late 16th or early 17th century created in Rome (inventory 62,259) in the Metropolitan Museum in New York, or those kept at the Museo Opificio delle Pietre Dure in Florence or the examples in the Museo Nacional de Artes Decorativas in Madrid. However, it is worth highlighting the update towards more contemporary tastes that can be seen in the geometric interplay created with the white and blue bands.

· Size: 150x90 cms.